Introduction: Itโs the most wonderful time of the year
A Tale of Two Lounges: SATS Premier T2 and the Qantas SIN Lounge
Malaysia Airlines B737 Business Class SIN-KUL
Malaysia Airlines Business Class Golden Lounge KUL
Malaysia Airlines A330 Business Class KUL-NRT
Japan Airlines Business Class Sakura Lounge NRT
Japan Airlines B77W Business Class NRT-LAX
The Westin LAX
The Westin Westminster
Aloft Boston Seaport
The Consolidated AA Domestic First Class Experience
American Airlines Flagship Lounge JFK
American Airlines B772 Business Class JFK-LHR
American Airlines Arrivals Lounge LHR
The Great Northern Hotel, London
Sheraton Grand Park Lane, London
Westin Paris Vendome
Courtyard by Marriott Madrid Princesa
Four Points by Sheraton Barcelona Diagonal
The Consolidated Intra-Europe Business Class Experience
Sheraton Casablanca
Royal Air Maroc Business Class Lounge CMN
Royal Air Maroc B737 Business Class CMN-ACC
Ethiopian Airlines B787 Business Class ACC-ADD
Ethiopian Airlines Cloud 9 Business Class Lounge ADD
Ethiopian Airlines Q400 Business Class ADD-DAR
Protea Hotel by Marriott Dar Es Salaam Courtyard
Qatar Airways A320 Business Class DAR-DOH
Qatar Airways Al Safwa First Class Lounge DOH
Qatar Airways A330 โFirstโ Class DOH-MCT
Oman Air Business Class Lounge, MCT
Oman Air E175 Business Class MCT-DXB
The Grosvenor House Dubai
W Doha
Qatar Airways Business Class Lounge DOH
Qatar Airways B772 Business Class DOH-BLR
The Ritz Carlton Bangalore
Vistara A320 Business Class BLR-DEL
Cathay Pacific A330 Business Class DEL-HKG
Cathay Pacific Arrivals Lounge HKG
W Hong Kong
Touring Cathay Pacificโs HKG Lounges
Cathay Pacific A350 Business Class HKG-SIN
I rushed over to the boarding gate from The Bridge, the final CX lounge I visited in my 3 for 4 tour of Cathay Pacificโs HKG lounges. My heart pounding, I arrived at the gateโฆonly to discover that boarding hadnโt even started yet.
I joined the line nonetheless so I could be first on board to take photos. One thing Iโve come to realise about writing trip reports is that an empty cabin is like ambrosia- you have unobstructed views of the seats, and you can take a million and one photos without someone giving you weird stares.
Boarding eventually started 15 minutes late (would that have been enough time to sprint to The Pier, I wondered), but I managed to overtake the two gentlemen infront of me in the jetbridge and be first on board. Iโm a regular Jesse Owens.
I entered an empty cabin, decked out with CXโs brand new A350 J seats.
Obviously with a 1-2-1 configuration youโll go for the sides if youโre travelling by yourself, but if theyโre all taken the centre isnโt bad either. You can see that there is a lot of privacy between the two middle seats. This obviously doesnโt work out if you want to talk to your seatmate, as both of you have to lean very far forward. But bah, conversation is overrated.
Cathay Pacificโs A350 seats have not had a charmed existence so far. The seats, provided by Zodiac Aerospace, were plagued with manufacturing defects. As per AusBT-
(the seats) have been beset by problems such as ill-fitting seat fabric and trim, peeling and flaking laminate surfaces and broken latch mechanisms.
Thatโs an extensive laundry list of problems for a brand new seat. Hereโs a great rundown (with lots of photos) from the Runway Girl Network that documented the issues with the first gen of A350 seats. Long story short, Zodiac agreed to replace all the business class seats on the first A350 aircraft that joined CXโs fleet. For aircrafts four to ten, which also had issues, CXโs internal engineering team rectified them. Supposedly.
I have no idea whether I flew on a newly-delivered A350 or one that had been remedied, but for what itโs worth I didnโt encounter any particular issues with the seat on my flight.
On first glance, the seat looks very similar to the one you find on the A330, but closer inspection reveals significant differences.
One feature that they have thankfully kept from the A330 is the large โearsโ around the seat which enhances privacy.
Indeed, the profile of the A350 J seat provides similar privacy to that of the A330- itโs difficult to see the top of anyoneโs head, unless theyโre very tall
Where have things changed? If you read my review of CXโs A330 youโll remember how I talked about Cathay putting everything you need on the side panel. Theyโve gone and changed that a bit, and you no longer find the USB or power plugs on the side panel. You will, however, find a modern touchscreen IFE controller.
I could not, for the life of me, find the power plug or USB ports and desperately needed to top off my devices. I flagged a passing crew member, who amazingly also couldnโt find the plugs. She said sheโd need to consult with a team member (Iโm guessing sheโs new to this aircraft type, or Cathayโs internal training procedures arenโt as robust as they used to)
A few minutes later she returned and clicked open the cupboard on the side panel (youโll remember the A330 has this storage area for your headphones too).
Inside the cupboard, lo and behold, the power outlets! (I do like the shade of red theyโve chosen for the interior too)
The screen that CX has chosen for its A350s is very bright and crisp, even with the mid-day sun steaming through the windows. On SQโs 2006 J seat the screen can be washed out in bright light, so this is definitely an improvement over that (the 2013 J seat has very good backlighting and this is less of an issue)
There are additional storage areas in the A350 seat as well. For example, hereโs the panel where your legs usually rest (note the unsightly coffee (?) stain that wasnโt cleaned properly)
This area opens up to reveal a shoe storage area, in fetching red.
Theyโve also made some space for you to put a water bottle in the aisle facing armrest.
You gotta love how high tech A350 cabins are- like how the ubiquitous fasten seatbelt sign and no smoking have gone digital.
It was a full house in the cabin as the plane taxied for takeoff.
The crew distributed menus shortly after takeoff for the meal that was to be served on this flight to Singapore.
Iโm not sure whether this counts as cost cutting, but this meal wasnโt tagged as lunch but rather refreshment. The flight left HKG at 1520, so I get what they mean by itโs neither here nor there, but on SQ I believe they would have done a full dinner service on such a flight. Itโs funny because you have some people complaining that SQ is cheap compared to Cathay by not offering caviar service in First Class on supper flights (Cathay does), but here you have an example of CX having gone the other way in business class on a regional flight with a truncated meal service.
Nuts and drinks were served before the meal was brought- CX serves Moet in the lounges but Billecart Salmon in the air, the same thing that QR serves.
A little while later, the appetizer of cured salmon, fennel and creme fraiche was served.
The salmon was nice, but there were only two pieces of it. A small blob of fish roe was served on the creme fraiche.
The crew then did something interesting by wheeling a cart through the aisle. This cart had all three refreshment options on it (afternoon tea set, beef stroganoff and roast duck noodle soup)
Iโm not quite sure what I thought of this. I eat with my eyes, so itโs always helpful to see what each dish looks like before deciding. At the same time, it doesnโt seem very business class to use carts for serving.
In the end it didnโt matter because seeing the items didnโt necessarily help me pick the best one.
The duck noodle soup was not what I expected from a country with as proud a food culture as Hong Kong. The soup was watery, the noodles bland, the veggies limp and the duck had that taste meat gets when you microwave it too much.
I will say this, though. Nothing beats Haagen-Dazs ice cream for desert. So what if itโs not Danish? Caramel biscuit and cream is amazing.
After the meal, I checked out the latest iteration of Studio CX on the IFE system. Youโll notice the version of IFE theyโre running is different from the one on the A330- this has many more features and a much nicer interface.
The screen is fully touch sensitive but if you donโt feel like leaning forward you can always use the controller. Recent movies like Beauty and the Beast and the Lego Batman movie were being shown.
A big selection of games too, but sadly none of them reach the heights of the old Nintendo 64.
One feature that CX has on their IFE which Iโd really like SQ to copy is satellite TV. Or even better- do what Etihad has done and broadcast sports live. I canโt tell you how surreal it was to watch Arsenal live from 30,000 feet. I canโt tell you how even more surreal it was to see them try not to pass the ball into the net.
The flight ultimately isnโt very long at slightly over 3.5 hours, and soon we were descending into Singapore. I realised it would be the first time Iโd set foot on home soil in 2 months.
Wrapping up the 2017 RTW Trip
I said at the start of all this that I probably have one of the most interesting jobs in the world, because I canโt think of any other occupation that lets you do this sort of thing. Unfortunately, this will be the last time Iโll do a RTW trip (at least for business) because in subsequent years Iโll be handing off this particular portfolio to a colleague in the interest of spreading around the professional development.
That said, the discovery of how great value RTW tickets are has got me thinking about possibly using some of my miles to redeem an RTW award one day. Think about it- round trip saver business class to the USA is already 176,000 miles, but doing a RTW J ticket via Krisflyer is 240,000 (a round trip standard business class ticket is 240,000 miles too fyi).
I realise there are tremendous logistical difficulties in booking an award RTW ticket, because unlike a revenue ticket youโre at the mercy of airlines opening up award space for routes/dates you want. In fact, Iโd go so far as to say that if you want to book a RTW award ticket, you need to plan your destinations around what dates and routes are available, not the other way round. Iโm still interested in booking one however, and that should if nothing else make for a very interesting experience.
A350 J is not good for couple eh?
Not really. Hard to talk to your companion
Is it better to pick 1 window and the other 1 in the center maybe? We would like to try suites next year to Europe but afraid a380 will be all renewed when we travelled (6 seats right and canโt be double bed!), hence weโre considering J class..
Guarantee you the a380 refresh will not be so fast. Also, I am confident the double bed concept will be retained in the new suites. Iโm just curious to see how it is implemented
Just wondering if CX shares the same caterer as KA flights since they are one company now. My KA flights has a meal option that is catered by restaurants from Hyatt Hotels.
Great way to sum up your RTW trip! By the way, did you mean โduckโ in the noodle soup, cos you mentioned โchickenโ.
Duck, chicken, all comes out the same color. Haha well spotted, will fix it when Iโm back
Hey Aaron, whatโs your impression of J class on SQ A350 vs Cathay? I mostly fly to Europe and Aussie and am tempted to jump ship due to the cheaper award tix and better middle tier perks with marcopolo vs KF but am hesitating because the seat doesnโt look as comfy and the food options are inferior to SQ. not to mention the forced stopover at HK.
So if your comparison is CX vs sq, iโd say that although CX has a superior ground product the overall diff when you consider inflight hard and soft product is nowhere big enough to justify a detour through hk. Sqโs a350 seat got some complaints but if you donโt have big feet itโs still the best in the business. Service more polished than CX too. Of course if you fly to europe and aussie you could always fly/redeem with ba and qantas and bypass hk altogetherโฆ if you can find award space
Thanks! I havenโt personally flown BA or Quantas but my impression (I may be very wrong) is they are no where near SQ in terms of hard or soft product. Might consider F on BA if Iโm flying into LHR though.
Can I say that if you were to choose award J tix to Europe or Aussie, your choice would still be SQ?
Oh right, donโt get me wrong ba and qantas business and first is nowhere close to sq (although iโd like to try baโs concorde room). I meant if you want to accumulate CX miles to take advantage of their (for now) lower redemption rates than sq. If I had to fly j to europe or aussie it would be sq no doubt. The only reason iโd try something else is for the experience
I wouldnโt recommend BAโs 2-4-2 alternate configuration business class. In fact, having experienced it, Iโd dissuade anyone from spending money or miles on it. Mine was an upgrade from PY so it was a freebie but I think Iโd be happier to remain in PY.
PS I believe BA also charges for seat selection in biz class.
yes they do. that is mind boggling.